Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 5

Launch Complex 5

Mercury-Redstone 1 at LC-5 in 1960
Launch site	CCAFS
Location
Short name	LC-5
Operator	U.S. Air Force
Launch pad(s)	One
Launch history Status Demolished Launches 23 First launch 19 July 1956 Last launch 21 July 1961 Associated rockets Jupiter-A Jupiter-C PGM-19 Jupiter Juno I PGM-11 Redstone Juno II Redstone MRLV

Launch Complex 5 (LC-5) was a launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida used for various Redstone and Jupiter launches.

It is most well known as the launch site for NASA's 1961 suborbital Mercury-Redstone 3 flight, which made Alan Shepard the first American in space. It was also the launch site of Gus Grissom’s Mercury-Redstone 4 flight. The Mercury-Redstone 1 pad abort, Mercury-Redstone 1A, and Mercury-Redstone 2, with chimpanzee Ham aboard, also used LC-5.

A total of 23 launches were conducted from LC-5: one Jupiter-A, six Jupiter IRBMs, one Jupiter-C, four Juno Is, four Juno IIs and seven Redstones. The first launch from the complex was a Jupiter-A on July 19, 1956 and the final launch was Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 capsule on July 21, 1961.

LC-5 is located next to the Air Force Space & Missile Museum. The original consoles used to launch the Mercury-Redstone rockets are on display in the blockhouse. As of 2011 a tour of the blockhouse (and the museum) can be arranged through the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's "Cape Canaveral: Then and Now" tour. One tour is offered daily, so the number of visitors is limited by the size of the tour.

Launch chronology

• July 19, 1956: Jupiter-A CC-13
• September 20, 1956: Jupiter-C RS-27
• March 1, 1957: Jupiter IRBM AM-1A
• April 26, 1957: Jupiter IRBM AM-1B
• May 31, 1957: Jupiter IRBM AM-1
• March 26, 1958: Juno I RS-24 (Explorer 3)
• May 17, 1958: Redstone RS-1002
• July 26, 1958: Juno I RS/CC-44 (Explorer 4)
• August 24, 1958: Juno I RS/CC-47 (Explorer 5)
• October 23, 1958: Juno I RS/CC-49 (Beacon 1)
• December 6, 1958: Juno II AM-11 (Pioneer 3)
• January 22, 1959: Jupiter IRBM CM-21
• March 3, 1959: Juno II AM-14 (Pioneer 4)
• May 14, 1959: Jupiter IRBM AM-17
• July 16, 1959: Juno II AM-16 (Explorer S-1, failed)
• August 27, 1959: Jupiter IRBM AM-19
• October 13, 1959: Juno II AM-19A (Explorer 7)
• November 21, 1960: Redstone MRLV-1 (MR-1)
• December 19, 1960: Redstone MRLV-3 (MR-1A)
• January 31, 1961: Redstone MRLV-2 (MR-2)
• March 24, 1961: Redstone MRLV-5 (MR-BD)
• May 5, 1961: Redstone MRLV-7 (MR-3)
• July 21, 1961: Redstone MRLV-8 (MR-4)

Gallery

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  Preparations on May 16, 1958 for the first PGM-11 Redstone launch on May 17 conducted by US Army troops

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  Launch of Liberty Bell 7 (MR-4)

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  Blockhouse (2010)

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  Firing button (2010)

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  LC-5 with display Redstone (2010)

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  LC 5&6 blockhouse (now museum)

See also

• Air Force Space & Missile Museum
• List of Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island launch sites
• Project Mercury
• Jupiter
• Redstone
• Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 6 - used the same blockhouse

External links

• http://www.astronautix.com/sites/capallc5.htm